Occlusive disease may involve a narrowing of arteries that causes a decrease in blood supply to organs and/or muscles (and tissues surrounding the organ and/or muscles). A patient suffering from an occlusive disease may experience pain, numbness, or weakness where there is poor circulation due to the blood vessel narrowing. Prolonged poor circulation may lead to ulcers, acute or chronic ischemia, gangrene, etc. Occlusive diseases may manifest in various ways, including, e.g., atherosclerosis or peripheral vascular disease. In addition, occlusive disease may often be present with other disease, for instance, heart disease.
Occlusion-based treatments may be performed to treat trauma, infection, ischemia, and/or gangrene, and improve the survival rate and quality of life of a patient. Treatments may include external (e.g., surgical) means or internal (e.g., endovascular) means. Specifically, occlusion-based treatments may include altering blood flow by ligating, obstructing, or removing blood vessels. For instance, amputation or surgical removal of organs and/or tumors may be performed where a candidate amputation or extirpation site is identified. Arteries downstream of the chosen site may be removed from blood circulation. Another example of occlusion-based treatment may include embolization therapy, which may involve embolizing organ sites that host cancer cells. Yet another exemplary occlusion-based treatment may include surgical ligation of blood vessels, e.g., during planned, elective, and/or emergency operations.
Such occlusion-based treatments may re-distribute blood flow following the treatment. While the occlusion-based treatments may improve perfusion, the resultant, re-distributed blood flow may not be taken into account when planning a patient's treatment. For example, effects of blood flow redistribution from removal of downstream arteries downstream of organs and/or tumors may not be evaluated prior to amputation or surgical removal of those organs and/or tumors. Embolization therapy may also result in re-distribution of blood flow. Embolization therapy may additionally cause a change in perfusion of various organs upstream or downstream of the chosen embolization site. However, the impact that embolization therapy may have on blood flow may not be evaluated prior to therapy. Changes in blood flow as a result of blood vessel ligation also may not be analyzed prior to the ligation.
Redistributed blood flow from occlusion-based treatments affect hemodynamic parameters associated with the blood flow. However, the impact of occlusion-based treatment on patient-specific hemodynamic parameters may be unknown before treatment. In other words, treatments are being performed without an understanding of the treatment's efficacy in improving perfusion. Thus, a desire exists to improve treatment planning by accounting for the impact that an occlusion-based treatment may have on blood flow.
The foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the disclosure.